Page 110 - Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2016

3.6 Conclusions Recommendation E.212) and providing Mobile
Network Codes to M2M service providers. In
While it is difficult to make precise forecasts the long run, shared-space technology has the
about the global impact of the Internet of Things, potential to offer much greater bandwidth for IoT
analysts seem almost unanimous that it will be and other communication services.
extremely significant – with tens of billions of
devices deployed and trillions of dollars of annual The widespread use of common technical
impacts within the next decade. IoT technologies standards will be the key to a low-cost,
could make an important contribution to interoperable IoT. This can be encouraged by
addressing global challenges such as improving continued cooperation between standards bodies
public health and quality of life, moderating and government support for standards use and
carbon emissions, and increasing the efficiency participation. National and local government
of a range of industries across developed and authorities can stimulate the availability of
developing economies. open IoT datasets, platforms and components.
Municipal governments are playing a key role in
The pace of IoT deployment will partly depending smart-city and open-data programmes. They may
on overcoming the hurdles currently facing the find it easier than national governments do to
development of cheaper, more reliable and experiment with new technologies and policies
well-connected systems. Common networks, suited to local conditions.
technical standards, system components, and
infrastructure build-outs, as well as strong public- Some countries are taking a relatively hands-off
private partnerships, can reduce the costs of IoT approach to IoT regulation, focusing instead on
systems. Open data and platforms can make it promoting economic growth and innovation. For
easier for new systems to be developed, especially example, the Korean government has recently
by individual entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs. planned to reduce IoT (as well as e-commerce and
Innovation centres and incubators can further Internet finance) regulation to support a dynamic
encourage new businesses to enter IoT markets, ecosystem for future growth. It still plans to
increasing competiveness. Governments can take protect users, prevent abuse of market dominance
steps to encourage national transitions to IPv6, and protect Internet networks, and it will decide
updating all their own systems and providing on which restrictions to maintain through social
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incentives to private-sector providers to do so. consensus. Other countries and regions –
notably the European Union – are taking a more
Large-scale IoT systems like smart cities and pro-active approach to protect social values,
international logistics chains need very cheap such as privacy, as the IoT develops, while still
sensors that can last for long periods of time paying strong attention to the need to promote
without needing repairs or new power sources. the economic benefits of the technology. Such
They also need the bandwidth to share data, strategic decisions are political ones that can only
whether by infrequent bursts or streams of be taken by national governments while sharing
high-resolution video. M2M systems rely on evidence and best practices through international
continued growth in coverage of 3G and 4G forums such as the ITU.
networks and support for remotely provisioned,
embedded SIMs for more reliable and competitive Regulators can play a role in encouraging the
communications. development and adoption of the IoT, while
promoting efficient markets and the public
Telecommunication regulators can have the interest. Competition regulators will need to
greatest impact by supporting the continued monitor whether ex post investigations of abuse
development and deployment of high-speed of dominant positions prove sufficient to foster
cellular networks and tracking the need for a competitive market and rapid innovation.
IoT-specific spectrum. Licensing and spectrum Regulators should give particular attention to
management are important to ensure that IoT IoT privacy and security issues, which are key
systems develop cost-effectively and have the to encouraging public trust and adoption of the
necessary bandwidth to communicate. Better technology. While many telecommunication
services can be provided at a significantly lower regulators already have responsibility for network
cost by updating standards (such as the ITU’s security, this is an area where they could do more

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